ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/asean-plus/30360481

Thai and Malaysian children welcome Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali with garlands at the lobby of Plaza Athenee in Bangkok, where the Malaysian delegation will be staying.

Mahathir arrives on second visit to Thailand in three months

Breaking News December 16, 2018 01:00

By The Star 
Asia News Network

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad arrived in Bangkok, Thailand, on a second visit to the country in less than three months.

Dr Mahathir is on a two-day working visit to receive an honorary doctorate leadership in social, business and politics from Rangsit University (RSU) tomorrow (Dec 16) during its convocation ceremony.

Accompanying him is his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, and a delegation which includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah.

Dr Mahathir and his wife were welcomed by Thai and Malaysian children with flowers and garlands. 

Malaysians living in Thailand lined up to receive them.

He was also met by Malaysian businessmen, who had met him on his earlier visit.

He will be attending a dinner with top Thai academics honouring his leadership.

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/asean-plus/30360482

How Many High Ranked Universities Do Asian Countries Have?

Breaking News December 16, 2018 01:00

By DataLEADS 
Asia News Network 
NEW DELHI

2,175 Viewed

Asia has only 63 high ranked universities according to the recent US News University Ranking. 

The list ranks 500 universities out of which the highest numbers of high ranked universities are in the US with 134 universities. 

The rankings take into account schools’ research performance, as well as their ratings by members of the academic community around the world and in Asia. 

China leads the region with 26 universities that figure in the list of high ranked universities. The country has been making a steady progress in the education sector with “improvements in research productivity, reflecting sustained high levels of public and private investment”.  Peking University and Tsinghua University are in the list. 

Japan has 17 high ranked universities with Kyoto University and Tokyo University leading in the score. The country although second in terms of ranked universities in Asia has seen a downfall in the global rankings. Critics owe it to the poor allocation of funds for education and blame the government for not increasing the spending on education.

South Korea is known for its innovation and tech driven education. The country has 11 high ranked universities. Seoul National University is among the top in the list. 

India has 4 universities which are ranked high globally. University of Delhi has made it to the cut while Jawaharlal Nehru University has lost the spot in the list. The regulatory system is the country has been termed as stifling since the government spending on education has been dismal over many years. 

Singapore has two universities in the list of high ranked universities. National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University are on the list. Malaysia, Thailand and Pakistan have one university each that figures in the list. 

The Asian countries with no high ranked universities are Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, Philippines, Indonesia and Mongolia.

ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/asean-plus/30360483

Members of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice protest ahead of the final session of the COP24 summit on climate change in Katowice, Poland, on December 14, 2018. (Photo by Janek SKARZYNSKI / AFP)

Nations inch towards climate deal at marathon UN summit

ASEAN+ December 16, 2018 01:00

By Agence France-Presse 
Katowice, Poland

Nations on Saturday inched towards a deal to implement the Paris climate goals, after all-night negotiations to hammer out a plan to limit global temperature rises exposed a range of conflicts.

A senior negotiator told AFP at the COP24 summit in Poland that delegates from nearly 200 nations had reached a “landing zone” of agreement.

But sources close to the talks said differences remained stark on the issues of ambition, how the climate fight is funded and how best to measure and ensure the fairness of each nation’s efforts to reduce emissions.

Delegates at the UN summit, held this year in the Polish mining city of Katowice, must agree on a common rule book to put the pledges nations made in the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord into practice.

This means all countries, rich and poor alike, must agree to action that will cap global temperature rises to “well below” two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and stave off the worst effects of planetary warming, and to a safer cap of 1.5C if possible.

The final draft decision text has been repeatedly delayed as negotiators seek to form guidelines that are effective in slashing emissions while protecting the economies of rich and poor nations alike.

“I think we have a landing zone. It is a compromise,” Gebru Jember Endalew, chair of the Least Developed Countries negotiating group, told AFP.

“It is a bit difficult to compromise when there are 190-plus countries.”

At the heart of the matter is how each nation funds action to mitigate and adapt to climate change, as well as how those actions are reported.

Developing nations want more clarity from richer ones over how the future climate fight will be funded and have been pushing for so-called “loss and damage” measures.

This would see richer countries giving money now to help deal with the effects of climate change many vulnerable states are already experiencing.

Brazilian villain?

Another contentious issue concerns the integrity of carbon markets, looking ahead to the day when the patchwork of distinct exchanges — in China, the Europe Union, parts of the United States — may be joined up in a global system.

“To tap that potential, you have to get the rules right,” said Alex Hanafi, lead counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund in the United States. “One of those key rules — which is the bedrock of carbon markets — is no double counting of emissions reductions.”

The Paris Agreement calls for setting up a mechanism to guard against practices that could undermine such a market, but finding a solution has proved so problematic that the debate may get kicked down the road to next year.

Some observers cast Brazil as the villain, with several sources accusing it of seeking to muddy the date by which the provisions should enter into force.

“There are still a range of possible outcomes and Brazil continues to work constructively with other parties to find a workable pathway forward,” Brazil’s chief negotiator J. Antonio Marcondes told AFP.

‘A deal within reach’

Another stumbling block could be how ambitious countries are in their renewed pledges ahead of a 2020 stock-take of the Paris deal’s progress.

Most nations wanted the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to form a key part of future planning. It highlighted the need for greenhouse gas emissions to be slashed to nearly half by 2030 in order to hit the 1.5C target.

But the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait objected, leading to watered down wording.

The European Union’s climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete on Saturday morning tweeted a photo of himself poring over the draft decision text from the talks — which were meant to wrap up Friday — submitted by host Poland.

“A deal to make the #ParisAgreement operational is within reach,” he said.